With spot in hall of fame, Red Hot Chili Peppers continue to work hard

Thursday

May 31, 2012 at 12:01 AMMay 31, 2012 at 1:57 PM

In 1988, when Chad Smith arrived to audition for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he was struck by something.

In 1988, when Chad Smith arrived to audition for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he was struck by something.

“I remember thinking: ‘These guys are short,’??” the drummer recalled with a laugh. “I knew who they were. I looked at their record covers and stuff like that, and was thinking, ‘These guys are going to be this big, monster rock band.’ And I walked in and they’re little guys, and I’m towering over them. It was a little weird.

“But it worked out all right.”

That’s a gross understatement, of course.

During the 28 years since their first release, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have sold more than 80?m illion albums worldwide and won seven Grammy Awards. The stew of funk, punk, hip-hop and melodic rock has provided the creative template for subsequent generations of bands.

Nor is the group — which includes singer Anthony Kiedis, bass player Flea and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer — resting on its laurels. Even as they entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April, the Chili Peppers were on the road promoting their 10th studio album, I’m With You, which last summer opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The tour will come to town on Monday at Value City Arena.

“It’s a humbling thing, man,” the 50-year-old Smith said from his New York apartment. “I’m really very humbled. I played all those clubs in Detroit for eight years, you know? Never in my wildest dreams. .?.?. If you had come up to me and said, ‘Hey, you’re going to move to California and join the Chili Peppers and sell millions of records and travel all over the world, .?.?. and then 25 years later you’re going to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,’ I’d have said, ‘You are (absolutely) high!’

“But here we are,” he said. “I can’t really comprehend it too much.”

The Chili Peppers’ adventure began in the early 1980s, when Kiedis, Flea, guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons — who had been friends at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles — began playing together as Tony Flow and the Miraculous Mates of Mayhem. Guitarist Jack Sherman and drummer Cliff Martinez took over for the Chili Peppers’ self-titled first album in 1984, but Freaky Styley (1985) brought Slovak back into the fold. Irons returned for The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987).

The band’s big breakthrough almost never happened. In 1988, the 26-year-old Slovak died of a heroin overdose. A grieving Irons quit the band, but Kiedis and Flea decided to soldier on, recruiting Smith and guitarist John Frusciante, then only 18, to replace Irons and Slovak.

“Right away, we just hit it off musically. I was like ‘Man, this is a blast! These guys are great,’??” Smith recalled. “We just jammed, which is what we still do today. It’s very similar."

The changes paid off. Mother’s Milk (1989), the new lineup’s first album, had U.S. sales of 1 million copies and sold more than 2.6?million worldwide. Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) reached 7 million in U.S. sales, with 15.2 million sold worldwide — beginning a string of multimillion-selling albums that has included One Hot Minute (1995), Californication (1999), By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006).

The success has not been without drama, however, because of health issues; substance-abuse problems; and, most notably, Frusciante’s departure, return and — in 2009 — his second departure.

Fortunately, Smith said, Klinghoffer was “already in the Chili Peppers orbit,” having toured with the group as an auxiliary musician.

“So, when it came to when we were thinking, ‘Hey, who are we going to get to play guitars?’ it was ‘How about this guy? We’ve already dated, you know? So now let’s get married,’??” Smith said.

The Hall of Fame announcement came while the Chili Peppers were hard at work on I’m With You.

“We just haven’t spoken about it that much,” Smith said. “We found out about .?.?. (the Hall of Fame) the same day we found out that we got nominated for a Grammy for best rock album, so it was like all-awards day. And we were like ‘Well, that’s cool; that’s great’ and not much more.”

The band members accepted Frusciante’s decision not to attend.

“We asked him,” Smith said. “He said, ‘I’m just not really comfortable with that, but good luck and thanks for inviting me.’ It was all good. “He’s the kind of guy, I think, that, once he’s finished with something, he’s just on to the next phase of his life. The Chili Peppers are not really on his radar right now.”

His absence didn’t dampen the celebration in Cleveland.

“I’m very pleased about it,” Smith said. “Music’s not a competition.

“Yeah, you like to win Grammys and stuff, but this is different. It’s not like the flavor of the month or the flavor of the year. It’s for a long career we’ve been fortunate enough to have.

“It’s not a joke. It’s very cool.”

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